Rising out of a friendly kayak fishing challenge for 4 mates on NSW’s Lake Macquarie, the national series of Yak Hunters competitions is up and about and bending rods across 4 states. To find out more about this well-oiled series of kayak fishing competitions, Robbie Waller talks with Yak Hunters big cheese Luke Lispet.

“Yak Hunters allows kayak anglers from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria to compete against each other in either the Wilderness Systems Elite or Perception Pro Am series.  Each state holds four rounds annually in which kayak anglers accrue points on a national basis.  The champions are the kayak anglers with the most points at the end of the year,” Luke informs.
“But we don’t just focus on one specific species in our tournaments.  To be crowned a Yak Hunters king or queen you’ll have battled your lures with different target species within a year as events roll through various state locations and species. There’s a chance for all anglers to shine on their more fancied species, but also an opportunity for anglers to mix it up and learn about species and waters they are less familiar with”.

“For example, the Victorian Yak Hunters series is initially focussed on Blue Rock bass, then it moves onto Gippsland chasing bream.  There’s another leg targeting trout at a venue yet to be announced, and finally the series finishes with a snapper skirmish on Port Phillip Bay. That’s a pretty testing series, and the winner well deserves the chocolates because they’ve worked hard and showed a diverse skill set”.

Intrigued by what Yak Hunters brings to the kayak fishing table, I probe Luke about the mechanics of events.
“We’re a lure only tournament, no bait allowed.  In the Wilderness Systems Elite series, kayak anglers are restricted to cast and retrieve. In the Perception Pro Am series, trolling is also permitted, but restricted to one lure at a time. Both series run side by side on competition day, it really depends on an angler’s level of experience which one they enter.  On competition day, we announce a bag limit for the target species based on state regulations and how an area is fishing. We also announce a bonus point species, a secondary species which can score points but to a lesser value. Competitors then head out and hook up as best they can, taking a photo of their catch on a Yak Hunters approved brag mat as evidence of fish length.  Fish are then released.  We don’t use live wells or have a weigh in, Yak Hunters is all about photographic evidence and letting fish go to sustain a waterway”.

“At the days end an angler’s score for a round is calculated by combining their fish from a selected bag for a total length measure.  That gives us a ladder of kayak angler placings, with first place being assigned 100 points, second place being assigned 90 points and so on.  At that stage we add 5 bonus points if an angler has caught the secondary species, and 10 bonus points for the biggest catch of the target species for the round”.

“Round scores are cumulative, so a kayak angler who scores 40, 60, 30, and 90 points in each of the 4 rounds respectively finishes with 220 points for the year.  And this can be compared to the results from other states, giving us our Yak Hunters champions”.
“We’ve got some cracking prizes thanks to our sponsors.  Paddle Pro Australia have donated a Wilderness Systems Radar 135 for the Wilderness Systems Elite Series kingpin.  And Melbourne Paddle Sports have also shown us some love by giving up a Perception Pescador Pilot 12 for the top dog in the Perception Pro Am series.”
“It all sounds pretty competitive, and we have some dammed fine kayak anglers amongst our ranks, but we’re also a friendly social bunch to boot. Our Facebook membership is now up to around 8000 members nationally, and it’s growing as we post about all sorts of kayak fishing stuff. So if readers are up for a challenge and want to have some yak based fun, they should give it a go!”
And with Luke’s enthusiastic energy ringing in my ears it’s hard not to want to sign up.  He’s a man whose clear passion for kayak fishing is infectious. He’s also a fella who knows how to get a national snowball rolling and gathering momentum.  I’m pretty keen to watch this space and see Yak Hunters power onwards into the future.

Robbie was born and raised on Victoria’s West Coast where old style wooden barracouta later turned crayfish boats were plucked up onto piers after each journey. He’s been an enthusiastic kayak angler for over 10 years, and Robbie  gets a big kick from helping define the techniques and gear that are suited to the evolving sport of kayak fishing.